FLEET MAINTENANCE O IL STUDY
OIL PREFERENCES
Oil Preferences
What matters most?
By Vesna Brajkovic, Assistant Editor
Because of the vital role engine oil plays – to minimize
metal-to-metal contact reducing friction and
wear – selection of the appropriate oil is essential.
12 Fleet Maintenance | MAY 2017
Oil Study Header
As you would expect, fleet maintenance managers have
their preferences.
The 2017 Fleet Maintenance Oil Study found that engine
protection was the most important criteria for choosing
a particular brand of oil. Next was previous experience
with the brand, followed by price, then brand reputation,
then performance.
For the past two years, the fleets who responded to
the oil study named Shell Rotella the oil brand they are
most familiar with, as well as the top brand they used in
their fleets.
Exxon Mobil Delvac and Chevron Delo, respectively,
also made the top three in oil brands fleets were most
familiar with and used most frequently.
In this section, you will find a breakdown of some of the
oil preference results.
Small Changes
In a previous Fleet Maintenance oil study Castrol was the
second most used engine oil by fleets, coming in just
below Shell Rotella. While Castrol is still one of the top
five engine oil brands used by fleets, its popularity in the
industry went down to 12 percent, compared to Shell
Rotella (42 percent), Exxon Mobil Delvac (26 percent) and
Chevron Delo (20 percent).
In the previous oil study, Castrol was at the top of the
list for most used synthetic engine oil, but in the most
recent study – according to the survey respondents who
indicated they use synthetic engine oil (56 percent), Shell
Rotella took the top spot. Exxon Mobil Delvac ranked
second and Castrol placed third.
Which of the following
oil brands are you
familiar with?
54%
Amsoil
42% Royal Purple
22%
Schaeff er’s
89%
Shell Rotella 71%
Chevron Delo
76%
Exxon Mobil Delvac
Castrol
22%
Citgo Mystik
56%
Pennzoil
52%
Quaker State
58%